Gov. Scott: Tampa Area Added More Than 33,000 New Jobs Over the Year


November 18, 2016



TAMPA, Fla. — Governor Rick Scott announced today that the Tampa area added 33,600 new private-sector jobs over the year in October. The Tampa area’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, down 0.1 percentage point in the last year. Florida businesses created 8,900 private-sector jobs across the state during October 2016, bringing the total number of jobs created since December 2010 to 1,232,400 jobs.

Governor Scott said, “All across our state, job creators are helping Florida become the best place in the nation for families to succeed. With more than 33,000 jobs created in the past year, the Tampa area is playing a big role in meeting our goal. The Tampa area also continues to lead the state in job demand with more than 47,000 job openings currently available, which is great news.”

The industries with the largest job gains over the year in the Tampa area were professional and business services with 10,200 new jobs; education and health services with 6,900 new jobs; and leisure and hospitality with 5,400 new jobs. The Tampa area led the state in job gains in the professional and business services industry.

The Tampa area continues to rank first among the state metro areas in job demand in October, growing its available job openings to 47,370. The Tampa area also remained first in the state in demand for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 15,246 openings in October.

The state’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in October, as a result of the rapidly growing labor force which nearly doubled over the month. For the 55th consecutive month, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.3 percent is exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.8 percent. Nearly 38,000 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Tampa Bay and the state’s other 23 regional workforce boards.

To view the October 2016 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

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